• Insight Crime researches, analyzes, and investigates organized crime in the Americas. Find all of Elyssa Pachico’s work here.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is reportedly set to reopen its field office in Uruguay, a strong suggestion that the country is now playing a bigger role in the trafficking of drugs to the US.

There are other indications that drug trafficking has increased in Uruguay. The consumption of a cheap cocaine derivative known as “paco” is on the rise there: according to a survey by the National Anti-Drug Secretariat, one in 10 students have tried the drug. While cocaine seizures in Uruguay remain low – with just 237 kilograms confiscated in 2011 – there have been incidents involving the bulk transport of cocaine, pointing to the involvement of organized criminal groups. In April 2011, Uruguay police found a shipment of 120 kilograms of cocaine in Montevideo, and arrested a suspected Colombian drug trafficker at the scene. In 2010, police reported the interception of a small aircraft from Bolivia loaded with 176 kilograms of cocaine.

The DEA’s decision to open a field office in Uruguay is part of a larger trend that has seen the US agency expand its field operations over the past decade. There are currently six DEA field resident offices in the region classified as the Southern Cone, which includes the regional headquarters in Lima, Peru. If Uruguay authorized the DEA to open a new office in Montevideo, there was likely agreement that the Buenos Aires office -- responsible for Uruguay -- was not enough to cover the region.

The DEA cannot open new offices without the approval of the host country, the US Chief of Misson, and US Congress. Presumably, this approval process is already underway or has been completed in Uruguay's case. The DEA has also said that it only opens offices in countries where the illicit drug trade is somehow tied to the US. As stated in a 2007 audit by the US Justice Department, "This includes countries that are a source of drugs or precursor chemicals, countries where significant money laundering occurs, or countries that are linked to drug trafficking organizations that threaten the United States." Therefore, one implication of the decision to reopen the DEA field office in Uruguay is that not only is drug trafficking within the Southern Cone increasing in general, but it is also becoming more connected to the drug supply arriving in the US.

Notably, the decision to reopen the DEA field office follows a proposal made earlier this year to legalize marijuana in Uruguay.

–Insight Crime researches, analyzes, and investigates organized crime in the Americas. Find all of Elyssa Pachico’s work here.